FOXBORO, Mass. — What’s the commonality between the Patriots offensive line’s two worst performances of this season to date?
Well, both came against very talented defensive fronts. That’s one. Quinnen Williams and DeForest Buckner are a handful to deal with even for full-strength O-lines.
But New England’s line was not at full strength for either of those matchups. And that fact should inspire some optimism in the unit’s ability to rebound in the back half of the season.
The Patriots faced Williams and Buckner — in wins over the New York Jets and Indianapolis Colts, respectively — without longtime center David Andrews, who missed both games after suffering a concussion in a Week 7 loss to the Chicago Bears. Now, with the Patriots’ Week 10 bye affording him extra time to heal up, Andrews is back. He no longer is listed on the injury report and, barring any setbacks, will return to the starting lineup for this Sunday’s Jets rematch at Gillette Stadium.
Andrews’ return won’t be a cure-all for the Patriots’ O-line. Having him back won’t solve their ongoing problem at right tackle, which has been their weakest and least stable position throughout the season. But he should go a long way toward stabilizing a position group that had shown marked improvement before his injury.
“I think David’s a great leader on our team,” quarterback Mac Jones said Wednesday. “He’s played against a lot of different defenses, played on some really good teams, so he provides that positive energy and obviously is a great football player, but it’s a lot of the other things too. He’s kind of the bell cow of that whole deal. He does a great job. I’m really happy with him and everybody else, too. They’re doing a really good job just trying to work together and get better at individual techniques. That’s what I even noticed (Wednesday), just the little things that guys are trying to work through, and all that is really important.”
Jones was sacked a total of 10 times during Andrews’ absence, the highest two-game total of his young NFL career. This spike came after the Patriots allowed just 12 sacks over their first seven games. While Jones bore responsibility for some of those recent takedowns, the line also struggled to clear holes in the run game, requiring top back Rhamondre Stevenson to gain 126 of his 133 rushing yards after contact, per Pro Football Focus.
Losing Andrews also seemed to have a significant negative impact on rookie left guard Cole Strange. A solid and improving player through the first seven weeks, Strange cratered while playing next to backup center James Ferentz, committing four penalties across the Jets and Colts contests and posting the two worst PFF grades of his career to date. He was benched for portions of both games in favor of an out-of-position Isaiah Wynn.
While Strange’s struggles can’t all be blamed on Andrews’ injury, the evidence from previous weeks suggests his return should help get the wayward first-round draft pick back on track. The Patriots also will hope it helps reverse their recent rash of what Andrews called “bad football” plays, be they penalties or runs/passes that are blown up in the backfield.
Against the Colts two weeks ago, the Patriots gained a total of -5 yards on their first two drives, with a declined penalty on Strange thrown in for good measure. Ten of their 61 plays in the game lost yardage, not including penalties and an end-of-half kneeldown, and they averaged a season-low 3.3 yards per play. The previous week, they had 15 non-kneeldown plays that went for negative gains, and they averaged 3.8 yards per play, their second-lowest mark of the season. (Over their first seven games, they had 31 such plays, an average of 4.4 per game.)
As a result, the Patriots have faced far too many low-percentage third-and-long situations of late. Over the last two weeks, 58.3% of their third downs have been third-and-7 or longer (21 of 36) and 36.1% have been third-and-10-plus (13 of 36).
“That’s the biggest thing: cut down on bad football, negative plays,” Andrews said. “It’s hard to say you want to do something when you’re playing behind the sticks, hurting yourself. I’ve never called a game before, but it’s hard to call a game when it’s second-and-5 and the next thing you know, it’s third-and-12. Or second-and-5 to second-and-11. That’s the big thing: We’ve got to stop hurting ourselves.”
